DRAFT 

OF 

A Model Civil Service Law 

EMBODYING 


The Essential Principles of a Practical 
Merit System of Public 
Employment 



Proposed by ROBERT CATHERWOOD, Chicago 















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1 



STATEMENT 


The National Assembly of Civil Service Commissioners at its meeting in 
New York June 12-14, 1913, and the National Civil Service Reform League at 
its meeting in Boston, December 10-12, 1913, appointed committees to draft a 
model civil service law. The Committee of the National Assembly consists of 
the Hon. John T. Doyle, Secretary of the United States Civil Service Commission; 
Robert Catherwood, President of the Cook County (Illinois) Civil Service Com¬ 
mission; F. E. Doty, Chief Examiner of the Los Angeles County (California) 
Civil Service Commission; Lewis H. Van Dusen, Philadelphia Civil Service Com¬ 
missioner and Henry Van Kleeck, President of the Colorado State Civil Service 
Commission. 

The Committee named by the National League consists of Richard Henry 
Dana of Boston, Mass., President of the National Civil Service Reform League; 
Robert D. Jenks of Philadelphia, Chairman of the Council, Elliot H. Goodwin of 
Washington, D. C., Member of the Council, and Robert W. Belcher of New York, 
Secretary of the League and of the New York Civil Service Reform Association. 

These Committees have decided to cooperate and to report back to their 
respective organizations a model civil service law embodying the essential prin¬ 
ciples of a practical merit civil service system which, with formal and minor modi¬ 
fications, shall be applicable to any state and to the county and municipal govern¬ 
ments thereof. It was also decided to draft a form of constitutional amendment 
for states where the people desire to surround the merit system with constitutional 
guaranties. 



Chicago, December 29, 1913. 


To the Members of the Committees of the 

National Assembly of Civil Service Commissioners, and of the 

National Civil Service Reform League on Model Civil Service Law. 


Gentlemen : 

By request of Hon. John T. Doyle, Chairman, I herewith submit for your 
consideration the following draft of a report: 

Robert Catherwood. 


REPORT 


The need for an authoritative and definite statement of merit principles and 
of the means which experience has shown are necessary to establish and maintain/ 
them effectively in state, county and municipal governments has been felt through-^ 
out the country. The practice of copying into new civil service laws from older 
laws provisions which were inserted originally as concessions to spoilsmen, or to 
meet transitory conditions, or provisions which have been found after experience 
to be vicious or impracticable, or provisions which are inconsistent with merit 
principles, is but one of many illustrations of this need. 

The administration of the civil service is a profession. It would seem to be 
the duty of the civil service commissioners, who are practicing this profession, to 
embody in available form a statement of the cardinal principles of their profession. 
The National Civil Service League has for thirty years advocated merit principles 
and emphasized their broader aspects, but they have never been formally set 
forth in shape for legislative and administrative use. 

In drafting the model law herewith submitted, the Committee has kept in 
view four great principles of the merit system and has endeavored to provide 
means for rendering them effective in practice. These principles are: 

First, that government should be controlled by the people. From this 
principle it follows that the use of public employes as a species of standing army 
for defeating the will of the people at the polls should be prohibited. The common 
practice of making a public employe’s continuance or standing in the service 
dependent upon the number of votes he can deliver to candidates, favored by the 
political leader who secured his appointment, is subversive of popular control. 
So too the practice of multiplying elective offices for the purpose of confusing the 
voter dissipates popular control. If ofl&ces, other than general policy making 
offices, are elective, the voter has presented to him at the polls a ballot so long and 
complicated that any real judgment upon the relative merit of candidates becomes 
impossible. The voters are necessarily delivered into the power of the “bosses’’ 
and popular control becomes a fiction. It is therefore imperative that the number 
of elective offices should be held within a reasonable compass so that the people 


2 



may have a fair chance to decide intelligently upon candidates and issues. All 
offices and places in the service, except general policy making offices, should be 
taken out of the elective or exempt class and included in the service under the 
provisions of a civil service law, if we are to remove the bureaucratic menace 
which the spoils system offers to popular control of the government. 

Second, that public offices and places which are not directly charged 
with the conduct of general political policies belong of right to all of the 
people. It follows therefore that the civil service should be kept out of politics 
and opened to all citizens alike according to their relative ability and fitness to 
perform the duties of the particular office or place to be filled. There should be 
entire equality of opportunity for appointment and tenure of office on the basis 
of merit only. Victory at the polls confers no right upon the victors to seize the 
non-politial offices or to interfere with the efficient conduct of public business. 
The civil service is the people’s civil service and nothing but the elective offices 
and the political policy making offices are won or lost at an election. Merit or 
efficiency should be the only test for place in the civil service. The public employe 
is the servant of all of the people and not of part of the people. 

Third, that the civil service shall be efficient. As it is important that 
only fit men should be appointed to office after a thorough and impartial test of 
merit, so is it important that in their subsequent daily work, the same standard 
of merit should be maintained, so that the public may derive the benefit of the 
merit system. Where public employes deteriorate through their own fault, they 
should be removed. If they deteriorate because of conditions of employment 
which make good work impossible or unnecessarily difficult, these conditions 
should be corrected. The prompt and certain removal of incompetent employes, 
the correction of defective organization and defective conditions of employment, 
the training of employes, the task of getting competent men into the public service 
and of keeping them there, the correlation of their pay with the results achieved, 
the preparation of the budget in its employment as distinguished from its financial 
features, and the maintenance of standards of efficiency are all employment 
problems which do not change with changing administrations, and which require 
constant expert treatment. The work of government under all political policies 
and parties should be well done. The people are entitled to it. 

Fourth, that the government in its capacity as an employer should 
be just and fair to its own employes. It follows therefore that a civil service 
law should protect the public employes from demoralizing and improper influences, 
should recognize the moral and social dignity of their work, reward efficient ser¬ 
vice, protect them in sickness and old age, create for them proper conditions of 
employment and by maintaining reasonable standards of employment set an 
example to private employers of how to be fair and just. 

To render these four principles of the merit system effective, it is obvious 
that the body charged with their administration, usually known as a civil service 
commission, must be composed of experts in the science of employment, that for 
the purposes of the merit system they must have jurisdiction over the whole 
subject of employment from the point where it is proposed to create a position 


through to the point where the position is abolished, and the employe in it pen¬ 
sioned, removed or laid off; that the civil service commission should be responsible 
to the people and removable by any citizen for causes analogous to those which 
may result in the removal of any other civil servant and that the commission 
should not be controlled by or responsible to any political officer. 

The Committee therefore respectfully recommends the adoption of the 
following as a model civil service law;— 


A CIVIL SERVICE LAW 


Applicable with minor or formal modifications to any state, and embodying 
the essential features of a practical merit system of public employment; prepared 
and approved by the National Assembly of Civil Service Commissioners and the 
National Civil Service Reform League to be entitled “An Act to regulate the 
civil service of the state and the several counties and municipalities thereof.” Be 
it enacted, etc., etc. 

Section 1. Scope: All public officers and employees, and all offices and 
places of employment in the state service and in the respective services of the 
several counties and municipalities of the state, except— 

(a) Officers elected by popular vote; 

(b) Officers whose appointment is provided for in the constitution, masters 
in chancery, referees, notaries public, officers appointed by a court to 
perform judicial functions; 

(c) A clerk and a sergeant-at-arms for each house, council or board of 
elective officers having legislative powers; 

(d) Officers, not to exceed ten in the state or ten in any one city of the state 
assisting the Governor or the Mayor of such city in formulating general 
executive policies and in charge of a principal administrative depart¬ 
ment of the state or of a city in the state; 

(e) Officers and employees of a county or municipality having a service in 
all departments of less than fifty persons and an average monthly pay¬ 
roll of less than five thousand dollars; 

(f) Persons employed by contract to perform a special service for the state 
or for some municipality thereof where such contract is certified by the 
State Civil Service Commission hereinafter provided for to be for em¬ 
ployment which cannot be performed by regular employees; 

(g) Soldiers, sailors and uniformed officers in the military or naval service of 
the state, and 

(h) Special examiners designated to conduct an examination provided for 
by^this Act; 


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shall be classified and graded in the manner provided for in this Act, and appoint¬ 
ments, removals, promotions, transfers, lay-offs, reinstatements, suspensions, 
leaves of absence and changes in compensation or title shall be made and per¬ 
mitted only as prescribed in this Act and not otherwise. 

Any person holding an office or place which this Act provides shall be classi¬ 
fied and graded, on the date this Act takes effect, shall continue to hold such 
office or place as a temporary appointee only until such time as a regular appoint¬ 
ment thereto under the provisions of this Act can be made. 

Section 2. State, County and Municipal Civil Service Commissions: Whenever 
there are less than two state civil service commissioners holding office under the 
provisions of this Act and no eligible list prepared as herein provided from which 
appointment can be made, the Governor shall forthwith request the chief justice 
of the supreme court and the president of the state university each to nominate 
two persons to act as special examiners in the selection of a state civil service 
commissioner. Within ten days after the receipt of such request, the chief justice 
of the supreme court and the president of the state university shall each and 
severally nominate in writing two persons to act as such special examiners, and the 
Governor shall forthwith appoint three of the persons so nominated to constitute 
a board of special examiners to conduct an examination under the provisions of 
this act for the purpose of preparing a list of the names, in the order of their rela¬ 
tive excellence, of persons eligible for appointment to the office of state civil 
service commissioner. Said board shall within thirty days after its members have 
been appointed, proceed to advertise and hold an examination under the pro¬ 
visions of this Act. The method of examination and the manner of preparing 
the resulting eligible list, certifying to the Governor therefrom by said board of 
examiners and making appointments in accordance with such certification by the 
Governor shall be the same as prescribed in other examinations, certifications and 
appointments under this Act, and the said Board shall have the same powers and 
obligations in respect thereto as those enjoyed by or imposed upon the State 
Civil Service Commission. 

There is hereby created a State Civil Service Commission consisting of three 
persons appointed by the Governor to serve until removed under the provisions of 
this section. Whenever a vacancy exists in the office of state civil service 
commissioner the Governor shall forthwith appoint the person standing highest 
upon the list of persons eligible for appointment to said office until all such vacan¬ 
cies are filled. 

In each of the several counties of the state there is hereby created the office of 
County Civil Service Commissioner, and in each of the several municipalities of 
the state there is hereby created the office of Municipal Civil Service Commis¬ 
sioner, provided such county or municipality has a service in all departments of 
fifty or more persons and an average monthly pay roll of five thousand dollars or 
more, such county or municipal civil service commissioner to be appointed by the 
county board of supervisors, the mayor or other chief appointing authority of the 
county or municipality, to serve until removed under the provisions of this 
section. 


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Whenever a vacancy occurs in the office of county or municipal civil service 
commissioner, the appointing authority shall make requisition upon the state 
civil service commission, and the commission shall certify to such authority the 
name and address of the person standing highest upon the list of persons eligible 
for appointment to said office, and the appointing authority shall forthwith appoint 
the person certified by said commission therefor. Where the appointing authority 
of any county or municipality in making requisition requests that the person 
certified shall be a resident of such county or municipality, all non-residents shall 
be ineligible for such certification and appointment. 

In case of the death, resignation, absence or sickness of a state, county or 
municipal civil service commissioner, the chief examiner subordinate to such 
commissioner shall perform the duties of such commissioner until such absence or 
sickness shall cease, or until an appointment under the provisions of this Act has 
been made. Such acting civil service commissioner shall have the same powers 
as such commissioner. Two members of the state civil service commission shall 
constitute a quorum. No state, county or municipal service commissioner shall 
hold any other lucrative office or employment under the United States, the State, 
or any county or municipality thereof. Each commissioner shall receive an 
annual salary of not less than three thousand dollars, and not more than five 
hundred dollars additional for each five thousand persons in the service over which 
he has jurisdiction in excess of five thousand such persons together with his neces¬ 
sary traveling expenses incurred in the discharge of his official duties. The State 
Civil Service Commission, each County Civil Service Commissioner and each 
Municipal Civil Service Commissioner may incur expenses for hiring employees, 
and for stationery, printing and other incidentals not to exceed an amount equal 
to two per cent of the total amount paid annually for salaries to all officers and 
employees in the service over which said commission or each of said commissioners 
has jurisdiction respectively, and it shall be the duty of the respective financial 
authorities of the state, counties and municipalities to make provision for the 
payment of such salaries and expenses of the commission or commissioner having 
jurisdiction of their respective services and such financial authorities may appro¬ 
priate and pay such other amounts for expenses as they may deem necessary and 
proper. 

It shall be the duty of all officers of the state and of the several counties and 
municipalities thereof to allow the reasonable use of public buildings and rooms, 
to heat and light the same for the holding of any examination or investigation 
provided for by this act, and in all proper ways to facilitate the work of any of 
the state, county or municipal civil service commissioners. 

No state, county or municipal civil service commissioner shall be removed 
except for malfeasance in office, neglect of duty or palpable incompetence upon 
written charges with specifications filed by a citizen of the state and after an 
opportunity to be heard in his own defense before a trial board consisting of (1) 
the person holding the office of county judge in and for the county in which such 
commissioner resides; (2) the person holding the office of circuit judge in a judicial 
circuit embracing said county, or, if there is more than one such judge, the one 


senior in age shall serve; and (3) a third person to be selected by the two members 
of said trial board aforesaid. Such charges shall be filed with said county judge, 
and shall be heard and determined by said trial board, and its findings and decision 
shall be final, and if said charges are sustained they shall be certified to the author¬ 
ity empowered by law to appoint a successor to said commissioner, and said 
appointing authority shall forthwith remove such commissioner and proceed to 
fill the vacancy so created pursuant to law. Said trial board and the members 
thereof shall have power to administer oaths, and to compel the attendance and 
testimony of witnesses and the production of books and papers. 

Any person holding the office of Civil Service Commissioner, whether in the 
state or in some county or municipality thereof, on the date this Act takes effect, 
shall continue to hold such office as a temporary appointee only until such time 
as a regular appointment thereto under the provisions of this Act can be made. 
Public records of any civil service commission existing on the date this Act takes 
effect shall be delivered to the Commission created under this Act. 

The word “Commission” as used in this Act shall be construed to mean in 
respect to the state service, and in respect to examinations and certification of 
eligibles to the offices of State, County or Municipal Civil Service Commissioners, the 
State Civil Service Commission; in respect to each of the several county services, 
the County Civil Service Commissioner of such county, and in respect to each of 
the several municipalities, the Municipal Civil Service Commissioner of such 
municipality. In the course of any investigation or hearing conducted by the 
Commission under the provisions of this Act, each member of the Commission and 
each oflScer or board appointed by said commission to make any such investiga¬ 
tion or to conduct any such hearing, may administer oaths, and shall have power 
to secure by its subpoena both the attendance and testimony of witnesses, and 
the production of books and papers. 

The state civil service commission shall have jurisdiction over all persons and 
positions in the service of the state except those exempted in section one of this 
Act; each county civil service commissioner and each municipal civil service 
commissioner shall have jurisdiction over all persons and positions in the services 
of their respective counties and municipalities except those exempted in section 
one of this Act, 

Any civil service commissioner who has held said office for a continuous 
period of twenty years, and has attained the age of sixty years, shall resign his 
position and retire from office, and the appointing authority shall forthwith 
proceed to fill the vacancy so created pursuant to law. Nothing in this section 
shall be construed to deprive a civil service commissioner of rights to a pension 
under the provisions of this Act. 

Any person who shall be served with a subpoena to appear and testify or to 
produce books and papers, issued by the Commission or by any commissioner, or 
by any board or persons acting under the orders of the commission in the course 
of an investigation conducted under any provision of this Act, and who shall 
refuse or neglect to appear or testify, or to produce books and papers relevant to 
said investigation, as commanded in such subpoena, shall be guilty of a misde- 

7 


meaner, and shall, on conviction, be punished as provided in this Act. The 
fees of witnesses for attendance and travel shall be the same as fees of 
witnesses before the nisi prius courts, and shall be paid from the appropriation 
for the expenses of the commission, and any circuit court or any judge 
thereof, either in term time or vacation, upon application of any such com¬ 
missioner or officer or board, may, in his discretion, compel the attendance of 
witnesses, the production of books and papers, and giving of testimony before the 
commission, or before any such commissioners, investigating board or officer by 
attachment, or contempt, or otherwise, in the same manner as the production of 
evidence may be compelled before said court. Every person who, having taken 
an oath or made affirmation before a commissioner or officer appointed by the 
commission authorized to administer oaths, shall swear or affirm wilfully, cor¬ 
ruptly and falsely, shall be guilty of perjury, and upon conviction shall be pun¬ 
ished accordingly. 

Section 3. Standardization and Classification: The Commission shall ascer¬ 
tain and record the duties of each position in the service which this Act provides 
shall be classified and graded, and wherever it appears that two or more positions 
in a service have duties which are substantially similar in respect to the authority, 
responsibility or character or work required in the performance thereof, they 
shall be placed in the same grade which shall be designated by a title indicative 
of such duties. Grades having duties of the same general nature and in the 
same line of promotion shall be placed in the same class. For each grade, the 
Commission shall prescribe a standard maximum and minimum salary or 
rate of pay in amounts as nearly as practicable to the market rate of pay for 
analogous service elsewhere, and it shall report the same to the authorities 
required by law to appropriate for the payment of salaries of positions in such 
grade. The Commission shall by rule prescribe the minimum period of service 
in the grade required before a salary should be advanced, and a minimum standard 
of efficiency requisite for such salary advancement. The lowest salary or rate of 
pay appropriated to any position in the grade shall constitute the grade pay and 
no person in such grade shall receive pay in excess of the grade pay unless he is 
certified by the Commission as having served the period required by said rule 
with an efficiency rating given by the Commission equivalent to the minimum 
standard of efficiency required thereby. No person shall be paid an amount 
greater than the maximum salary or rate of pay prescribed by the Commission 
for the grade in which he is classified and graded. 

In allowing salary advancements preference shall be given in all cases in the 
order of relative seniority and highest efficiency as shown by the records of the 
Commission. Where there are no records of efficiency covering a period of con¬ 
tinuous service for six months or more, the minimum standard of efficiency shall 
be presumed. 

Whenever a position is classified and graded and the rate of pay therefor 
prescribed as provided for in this section, no treasurer, auditor, comptroller or 
other officer of the state or of any of the counties or municipalities thereof shall 
approve the payment of or be in any manner concerned in paying, auditing or 

8 


approving any salary, wage or other compensation for services to any public 
officer or employee unless a pay roll, estimate or account for such salary, wage or 
other compensation containing the names of the persons to be paid, a statement 
of the amount to be paid each such person and the matter on account of which the 
same is paid bearing the certificate of the Commission that the persons named 
in such pay roll, estimate or account have been appointed or employed in pursu¬ 
ance of law and of the rules made by the Commission under the provisions of this 
Act and have complied with the terms of this Act and of the rules of the Com¬ 
mission when required so to do, shall be filed with him. Before making any such 
certificate, the Commission shall investigate the nature of each item of such pay 
roll, estimate or account and ascertain that the provisions of law in respect to any 
such item have been strictly complied with. 

The Commission shall refuse to certify the pay of any public officer or em¬ 
ployee who shall wilfully or through culpable negligence violate or fail to comply 
with the provisions of this Act or of the rules of the Commission. 

The Commission shall by rule prescribe standards of efficiency for each grade 
of the service and for examinations therefor, and it shall make and keep a record 
of the relative efficiency of each person in the classified and graded service. It 
shall provide by rule methods for ascertaining and verifying the facts from which 
such records of relative efficiency shall be made which shall be uniform for each 
grade. 

Section 4. Rules and Powers: The Commission shall make rules to carry 
out the purposes of this act, for grading, classifying and establishing uniform 
salaries in each grade, for examinations, appointments, removals, promotions, 
transfers, lay offs, reinstatements, suspensions, leaves of absence, changes in 
compensation or title, for promoting efficiency and economy in the service so 
classified and graded, for defining what shall be cause for removal from the service, 
and for maintaining and keeping records of the efficiency of persons, both as 
individuals and in groups, holding positions which this act provides shall be classi¬ 
fied and graded. The Commission may from time to time make changes in such 
rules. All rules and all changes therein shall be printed for distribution, and 
public notice of the adoption or promulgation of any rule or change therein shall 
be given at least ten days prior to the date the same shall go into operation. 

Whenever the State Civil Service Commission shall have reason to believe 
that any county or municipal civil service commissioner has neglected to perform 
his duties, or is palpably incompetent, or has been guilty of malfeasance in office, 
the said State Civil Service Commission shall institute an investigation, and if it 
shall find any such neglect, incompetency or malfeasance, it shall direct its presi¬ 
dent to file charges under the provisions of section 2 of this Act. 

Section 5. Examinations and Appointments: Whenever a position classi¬ 
fied and graded under the provisions of this Act becomes vacant, the appointing 
authority, if he desires to fill it, shall make requisition upon the commission for 
the name and address of a person eligible for appointment thereto. The Com¬ 
mission shall certify to the appointing authority the name and address of the per¬ 
son having the greatest seniority in service within the grade in which said position 


is classified provided such person has been previously examined, as provided in 
this Act, for a position in said grade, and has served by actual employment for a 
period of three months at any time within two years prior to the date of such 
requisition and provided such person is not actually and regularly employed in 
said grade on the date of such requisition. If there is no such person eligible 
to reinstatement the Commission shall certify to the appointing authority the 
name and address of the person standing highest upon the list of eligibles re¬ 
sulting from an examination for positions in said grade. If there is no person 
eligible for reinstatement, and 'no person named upon such list of eligibles, the 
Commission may in its discretion grant authority to the appointing authority 
to make temporary [appointment] from day to day, not to exceed sixty days, 
pending examination, and said Commission shall forthwith proceed to hold an 
examination as herein provided. Whenever requisition is so made, or when¬ 
ever a position is held by a temporary appointee and a reinstatement list 
or eligible list for the grade in which such position is classified and graded 
exists, the Commission shall forthwith certify the name and address of the person 
eligible for appointment to the appointing authority, and said appointing author¬ 
ity shall forthwith appoint the person so certified to said position. No person 
so certified shall be laid off, suspended, given leave of absence from duty, trans¬ 
ferred or reduced in pay or grade except for reasons which will promote the good 
of the service specified in writing and after an opportunity to be heard by the 
Commission, and then only with the consent and approval of said Commission. 
When a person so certified reports for duty to the appointing authority his appoint¬ 
ment shall be deemed complete. A person tendered certification may waive or 
refuse certification in writing for one period of thirty days, and such waiver or 
refusal shall not affect his standing or right to certification to the first vacancy 
in the grade occurring after the expiration of such thirty days period. If no 
such waiver or refusal is filed in writing with the Commission, and if after one 
waiver has been filed and the period thereof has expired, a person tendered certi¬ 
fication fails to report for duty within three days after tender of certification has 
been made, such failure shall constitute a resignation from the service and his 
name shall be stricken from all lists for the grade in which the position to be 
filled is classified. Acceptance or refusal of temporary appointment or of an 
appointment to a position exempt from the provisions of this Act shall not affect 
the standing of any person on a list for permanent appointment. 

No person shall be eligible for appointment to positions in any grade which 
this act provides shall be classified and graded unless and except he shall have 
attained upon examination for appointment within the grade such minimum 
mark as may be fixed by the Commission for any subject or part of the examina¬ 
tion and a general average upon all subjects or parts of such examination of not 
less than the minimum fixed by the rules of the Commission. All original entrance 
examinations shall be public, competitive and free to all persons who may be law¬ 
fully appointed to any position within the grade for which such examination is 
held with limitations specified in the rules of the Commission as to residence, age, 
sex, health, habits, moral character and prerequisite qualifications to perform the 


10 


duties of such positions. Promotion examinations shall be public, competitive and 
free only to all persons holding positions for a period to be fixed by the rules of the 
Commission in a grade previously declared by the Commission to involve the 
performance of duties which tend to fit the incumbent for the performance of duty 
in the grade for which the promotion examination is held. In promotion exam¬ 
inations efficiency and seniority in service shall form part of such examination, but 
combined shall not carry a total number of marks to exceed one quarter of the 
maximum marks attainable in such examination. If less than two persons sub¬ 
mit themselves for a promotion examination, or if after such examination is held, 
all applicants fail to attain a general average of less than the minimum standing 
fixed by the rules of the Commission, the Commission may at any time within six 
months hold an original entrance examination and certify from the eligible list 
resulting therefrom. All examinations shall be practical in their character, and 
shall consist only of tests which will fairly determine the relative capacity of the 
persons examined to perform the duties of the position to which appointment is 
to be made, and may include tests of physical fitness or of manual skill. No ques¬ 
tion in any examination shall relate to political or religious opinions or affiliations. 
No questions which are ambiguous, misleading or unfair or in the nature of catch 
questions shall be asked. The Commission shall control all examinations and 
may designate special examiners to conduct and hold such examination as the 
Commission may direct and to make return and report thereof to the Commis¬ 
sion. The Commission may at any time substitute any other person in the place 
of any one so designated, and may itself act as such examining authority without 
designating special examiners. Said Commission shall hold as many examinations 
as may be necessary to provide eligibles for each grade of the service, and to meet 
all requisitions and to fill all positions held by temporary appointees. From the 
return and report of the examiners, or from the examinations made by the Com¬ 
mission, the Commission shall prepare a list of eligibles for each grade in the 
service which this act provides shall be classified and graded of the persons who 
shall attain such minimum mark as may be fixed by the Commission for any part 
of such examination, and whose general average standing upon examination for 
such grade is not less than the minimum fixed by the rules of the Commission, 
and who may be lawfully appointed. Such persons shall take rank upon the list in 
the order of their relative excellence as determined by examination without refer¬ 
ence to priority of time of examination. The Commission shall cancel such por¬ 
tion of any list as has been in force for more than two years and an examination 
for each grade shall be held at least once in two years. 

The markings and examination papers of each candidate shah be open to his 
own inspection, and the markings and papers of all persons upon any list of eligi¬ 
bles shall be open to public inspection within ten days after an eligible list has been 
prepared. Notice of the time, place and general scope of every examination, and 
of the duties, pay and experience advantageous or requisite for all positions in the 
grade for which the examination is to be held shall be given by the Commission 
by publication for two weeks preceding the examination in a newspaper of general 
circulation published in the county or municipality in which the examination is 

11 


to be held. Such further notice shall be given as the rules of the Commission 
may prescribe. 

Section 6. Reports To The Commission: Immediate report in writing shall 
be given to the Commission by the appointing authority and by such other persons 
as may be designated by the Commission, of all appointments,' vacancies, absences 
or other transactions affecting the status of positions or the performance of duties 
of officers or employees classified and graded under the provisions of this Act, 
and all such notices shall be prepared in the manner and form prescribed by the 
rules of the Commission. 

Section 7. Removals: No person holding an office or place classified and 
graded under the provisions of this Act, except Civil Service Commissioners, 
shall be removed or discharged except for cause upon written charges and after 
an opportunity to be heard in his own defense. Such charges may be filed by 
any citizen or taxpayer, and shall within thirty days after filing be heard, investi¬ 
gated and determined by the Commission or by some officer or board appointed 
by the Commission to hear, investigate and determine such charges. The finding 
and decision of the Commission or of such officer or board, when approved by the 
Commission, shall be final, and shall be certified to the appointing authority and 
shall be forthwith enforced by such authority. 

Section 8 . Pensions: In the state service and in each county or municipal 
service to which this act applies, there shall be created, established and main¬ 
tained a pension fund, and the beneficiaries of said funds shall be officers 
and employees holding positions classified and graded under this Act in such 
service, provided that no temporary appointee, no person holding a position not 
classified and graded under this Act, no person who is sixty or more years of age 
at the time this Act takes effect, and who at said time has not been in such service 
for at least twenty years, no officer or employee now or hereafter participating in 
any other pension fund created by law and no person holding a position classified 
and graded as a skilled or common labor position (unless such person shall within 
six months after this Act takes effect, or within six months after such person 
enters the service give written notice to the Commission of his desire to participate 
in the benefits hereunder) shall participate as a beneficiary in said fund. 

Said fund for the state service shall consist of two dollars a month retained 
or deducted by the State Treasurer from the salaries or wages of each officer and 
employee of the state holding positions classified and graded under this Act here¬ 
inafter called beneficiaries, and said fund for each of the services of the several 
counties and municipalities shall consist of two dollars a month retained or de¬ 
ducted by the county treasurer, the city treasurer or other financial authority 
charged by law with the duty of paying salaries or wages for officers and employees 
of such county or municipality from the salaries or wages of each officer or em¬ 
ployee of each of said counties and municipalities holding positions classified and 
graded under this Act, hereinafter called beneficiaries, provided, however, that 
if the name of any such beneficiary shall not appear on the pay roll by reason of 
leave of absence, lay off or other good and sufficient cause thereby making a reduc¬ 
tion or retention of two dollars impossible, such beneficiary may retain all rights 

12 


under this section by paying two dollars each month to the state treasurer during 
such absence from the service. The amounts deducted, retained or received 
under the provisions of this section by the county or city treasurer or other finan¬ 
cial authority of any county or municipality shall be transmitted forthwith to the 
state treasurer and held subject to orders for payment issued by the civil service 
commission of such county or municipality. The Commission shall certify to the 
officer and employee entitled thereto, the amount of money ordered paid to him 
by the Commission from the fund and the purpose of such payment. The Com¬ 
mission shall submit semi-annually to the appointing authority a list of persons 
entitled to payment from the fund, giving the amount of each such payment and 
the date of each order. All records relating to said fund shall be public and open 
to inspection at all reasonable times. 

The Commission shall have power and it shall be its duty 

First to authorize all payments from the pension fund pursuant to the 
provisions of this Act; to hear and determine all applications for pensions under 
this Act and to suspend payment thereof when disability ceases; 

Second to audit accounts pertaining to said fund at least four times annually; 

Third to accept by gift, grant, bequest or otherwise any money or prop¬ 
erty of any kind and use the same for the benefit of said fund, to invest such fund 
or any part thereof in interest bearing bonds of the United States, the state or 
some county or municipality thereof; 

Fourth to order payment to any officer or employee who may be separ¬ 
ated from the service before having qualified for a pension in an amount equal to 
the deductions from his salary or pay; 

Fifth to order payment to any officer or employee entitled to participate 
in said fund who shall have been in the service for twenty years and shall have 
attained the age of sixty years, conditioned upon his retirement from the service, 
such payment to be at the rate of fifty dollars per month made during the life of 
such beneficiary; 

Sixth to order payment at the rate of fifty dollars per month for life to 
any beneficiary who shall retire from the service upon attaining the age of sixty 
years before deduction shall have been made from his monthly salary or pay for 
a period of twenty years, provided such beneficiary shall agree in writing to pay 
and shall pay within two years the sum which together with all moneys previously 
deducted from his salary or pay for such fund is equal to five hundred dollars. 

Seventh to order payment at the rate of fifty dollars a month to any 
beneficiary who shall have been seriously injured and incapacitated for duty in 
the service without negligence upon his own part during the continuance of such 
disability; 

Eighth to make rules for the administration of said fund. 

The State Treasurer shall make prompt payments from the pension fund in 
accordance with the orders of said Commission, and shall give bond in an amount 
to be fixed by said Commission conditioned upon the faithful performance of the 
duties herein imposed. He shall keep separate the funds for each of the services 
to which this Act applies, and shall make a monthly statement to the Commission 


13 


having jurisdiction of such service of the amount on deposit and of all payments 
made pursuant to the orders of said Commission. 

Section 9. Abuses and Frauds Prohibited: No person shall wilfully or cor¬ 
ruptly make any false mark or report upon any examination, or furnish to any 
person information for the purpose of injuring the prospects of any person exam¬ 
ined or to be examined, appointed or promoted. No applicant shall deceive the 
Commission for the purpose of improving his chances or prospects for appoint¬ 
ment. No public officer or employee shall solicit, orally or by letter, or receive 
or be in any manner concerned in soliciting or receiving any money or valuable 
thing from any officer or employee holding a position classified and graded under 
this Act for any party or political purpose whatsoever. No person shall solicit, 
pay, give or receive in any public building any money or valuable thing for any 
partisan political purpose whatsoever. No person shall use or promise to use his 
influence or official authority to secure any appointment or prospect of appoint¬ 
ment to any position classified and graded under this Act as a reward or return 
for personal or partisan political service. No public officer or employee shall by 
means of threats or coercion induce or attempt to induce any person holding a 
position classified and graded under this Act to resign his position or to take a 
leave of absence from duty or to waive any of his rights under this Act. No 
person about to be appointed to any position classified and graded under this 
Act shall sign or execute a resignation dated or undated in advance of such ap¬ 
pointment. 

Section 10. Political Activity: No person holding an office or place classi¬ 
fied and graded under the provisions of this Act shall seek election, nomination 
or appointment as an officer of a political club or organization or take an active 
part in a political campaign or serve as a member of a committee of any such club 
or organization or circulate or seek signatures to any petition provided for by any 
primary or election law or act as a worker at the polls, or distribute badges, colors 
or indicia favoring or opposing a candidate for election or nomination to a public 
office, whether federal, state, county or municipal, or permit the use of his name 
for nomination or election to any public office, provided however that nothing in 
this Act shall be construed to prohibit or prevent any such officer or employee 
from becoming or continuing to be a member of a political club or organization 
or from attendance upon political meetings, from enjoying entire freedom from 
all interference in casting his vote and from seeking election to the office of public 
school director or of member of a board of education or of member of a library 
board. 

Section 11. Penalties What Officers to Prosecute: Any person who shall 
wilfully or through culpable negligence violate any of the provisions of this Act 
or of the rules of the Commission shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall on 
conviction thereof be' punished by a fine of not less than $50.00 and not more than 
$3,000.00, or by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not exceeding six 
months, or by both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court. 
Prosecutions for violations of this Act may be instituted either by the Attorney 
General, the State’s Attorney for the county in which the offense is alleged 

14 


to have been committed, or by the Civil Service Commission acting through 
special counsel. Such suits shall be conducted and controlled by the prosecut¬ 
ing officers who institute them unless they request the aid of other prosecuting 
officers. 

Whenever the Attorney General or the State’s Attorney for the county in 
which an offense under this Act is alleged to have been committed shall refuse to 
prosecute the persons alleged to have committed such an offense, or shall fail to 
prosecute such person or persons after the lapse of 30 days from the date the 
alleged offense is brought to his attention, then any taxpayer may apply to any 
judge of a nisi prius court of such county for the appointment of a special attorney 
to conduct a prosecution of such person or persons and upon such application the 
court may appoint some competent attorney to prosecute the person or persons 
alleged to have committed the offense and the special attorney so appointed shall 
have the same power and authority in relation to any prosecution for violation 
of this Act against such person or persons as the Attorney General or the State’s 
attorney would have had in prosecuting any violation of this Act, and such special 
attorney shall conduct and control such prosecution unless he request the aid of 
other prosecuting officers. 

Section 12. Repeal: All laws or parts of laws which are inconsistent with 
this Act or any of the provisions thereof, are hereby repealed. 


15 












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